Maximum match point saved in a tennis match?

1

A tennis tournament is organized into matches between players (for singles tournaments) or teams of two players (for doubles tournaments). The matches of a tournament are grouped into rounds. In round 1, all players (or teams) are paired and play against each other in matches. The losers are said to leave, or be out. They no longer compete in the tournament (this is single elimination). The winners are again paired to play in the matches of the next round. The tournament continues until the quarterfinal round (having eight players or teams playing in pairs), then the semifinal round (having four players or teams playing in pairs), and finally the final round (having only two players or teams) are played. The winner of the final round is declared the winner of the entire tournament.

A tennis match is composed of points, games, and sets. A match is won when a player or a doubles team wins the majority of prescribed sets. Traditionally, matches are either a best of three sets...

A prime candidate - Jana Novatna (but not for the infamous Wimbledon final against Steffi Graf).

Rather, I’d argue it’s Novatna and Chanda Rubin’s third round match at the 1995 French Open. After splitting the first two sets, the pair went to a third and final set, in which Novatna built a 5–0, 40–0 lead - that is, three match points and the biggest possible lead in a set of tennis. So, she’s got this, right? Wrong. Rubin won the game, but was still down a 1–5 deficit.

Now, with the immediate danger halted, Rubin still had to win the next four consecutive games to stay in the tournament. She did, a mix of her own confident play and many missed opportunities by Novatna. Rubin ended up taking the next five games to reach a 6–5 lead, but was broken while serving for the match, bringing the set’s score to 6-all.

So, now, after a third-set scoreline of 5–0, 40–0 in Novatna’s favor, it’s even. Rubin then ends up getting a break of Novatna’s serve and holding her own...

With the rise of optical tracking, biometric sensors, and big data analysis, a new wave of technology is transforming what we know about sports performance. Basketball follows every player with cameras mounted on the ceiling. Baseball tracks every pitch and the speed and trajectory of batted balls. Soccer can tell us where players move, and how far they've run during a match. The professional tennis tour, which is hosting the U.S. Open this month, has been slower to embrace tracking, despite close sponsorship relationships with technology companies like IBM and SAP.

Yet in 2006, tennis instituted an automated line-calling system called Hawk-Eye, which has opened a door to digital tennis analytics. Hawk-Eye data is available to broadcasters to illustrate plays during the match, and it will be increasingly available to players for on-court coaching in the women's tour. But while the data is not open to the public, the master cartographer and tennis data visualizer Damien...

Federer lost 16 times in his career from MPs up, which I suspect is the Open era record, so it's not that tough against him (lol). To be fair, he also won 16 times saving MPs, which AFAIK is indeed the Open era record, shared with Ivanisevic and Lapentti. Such a variety player, this Fed. :D

And quite a few pros can do that return, actually. Many people get tight when MP down, but a lot rather play freer, because they have already accepted the loss and feel no pressure. It's what happened next that's truly elite stuff. After blasting the return and realising the match isn't completely over yet, most would surely get tight, while Djokovic was prepared to rally every point even at the brink of defeat. Hence the comeback is duly praised, but the return itself is overrated - still a great shot, but not something godly, out of this world, inhumanly clutch,...

From a humble background and with traditional values, Irish Chris Wilton is still struggling financially despite being a recently retired high ranked tennis pro. He has taken a job as a tennis instructor at an upscale London tennis club, although he knows there is a better life for him somewhere down the road. He is befriended by one of his students, wealthy Tom Hewett. Chris starts to date Tom's sister, Chloe Hewett, a girl-next-door type who is immediately attracted to Chris. Chloe quickly knows she wants to marry Chris, and through her businessman father, Alec Hewett, tries to help Chris and their future by getting him an executive job in Alec's company. In his life with the Hewetts, Chris begins to enjoy the finer things in life. Through it all however, Chris cannot help thinking about Nola Rice, a struggling American actress who he meets at the Hewett estate and who is Tom's unofficial...

NOTE: This cannot be considered as a complete answer, since I wasn't able to find the record for WTA matches and also some sources I found contradict each other. But I am posting at least the information I was able to find, hoping that someone might be able to find the missing info.

Open Era records

ATP matches

Adriano Panatta saved 11 match points in his match against Kim Warwick in the first round of 1976 Italian Open. He won this match and then went on to win the tournament. Several sources confirm this as the Open Era record. 1, 2, 3. 4

As many of you have suggested, here is Roger Federer's Top 10 sweetest escapes, in terms of being down match points down and then coming back to win the match. I am sorry for the quality in this video, as most of the videos are from many years ago, and also I had to make the most recent ones black and white alongside other effects (crop) to avoid copyright issues. It is better than not being able to see at all. Hopefully you can still enjoy the compilation. What would you like to be the next Top 10?

This channel is dedicated to tennis Top 10 videos, mostly of Roger, but also from other players. Please help me get this channel up and running, by sharing and subscribing. Check out my other channel for tennis tributes below. What would you like to be the next Top 10?

To answer this, I would refer you to a message thread over at the men's tennis forums site where somebody did the research on these kinds of scorelines since 1980. See here.

On the women's side of tennis, I'm sure this has happened many times where the winner won 6-0, 6-0. You tend to see those kinds of scorelines once or twice for each grand slam tournament where a player like Serena or Sharapova beats a low-ranked opponent 6-0, 6-0. I don't think I've ever heard of a match where the loser recorded a 6-0 set against the winner though (where the winner won their two sets by a score of 6-0 also) - that would be very rare. I will research it though and post an edit in here if I can find a record of it ever happening.

Here is another good read about the types of scorelines you're asking about - which mentions that it's a more common score in the women's game.

EDIT: Ok - I found only two matches so far that fit your criteria (both on the womens side). If you look...

Japanes star Nishikori performed his escape act in the second set against Luxembourg's big hitter, who rained down 20 aces in the two-and-a-quarter-hour thriller.

Third-seeded Nishikori saved the first match point with a perfectly timed lob; his second was an ace.

"I saw that he was almost touching the net, but my arm was shaking as it was match point," Nishikori said of the winner that pulled the score level 5-5 in the second set. "I was pretty confident with the lob.

"It's never easy to save two match points - I was happy to get through this tight moment."

After his heroics in the second set, Nishikori was able to steady his game to earn a hard-earned win over Muller, ranked 37.